Do you give to panhandlers?

[róisín_dubh]

74. Interesting...

I was punched in the face and had my phone stolen last autumn by a kid who, as it turned out, was in a Roma street gang here in the UK. His younger brother and two mates were arrested, as which point the kid who punched me fucked off back to Romania.
About a week before this happened, I was in a pub with my friend, who is Romanian (but not Roma). I had my laptop with me. As we walked in, my friend was laser focused on this old woman who was very out of place in the pub (it’s one for metal-heads and punks). I noticed the woman bumping into people, and my friend just said “watch your bag”. The woman came by us, my friend said something to her, and I just stared her dead in the face. She left a minute or two later. My friend said it’s a common pickpocket tactic, to bump people, who will then grab instinctively for their wallet or phone, giving away the location of those items.

I hate the reputation the Roma have and the discrimination they have and continue to face. But their young men are really not doing them any favours at the moment.